Society

People, politics, tech, money, sport, work and entertainment all intertwine to make up today’s ever-changing, crazy, delightful and frustrating society. The majority of my second-hand-views are about life within our society and, with a left-of-centre stance, there’s bound to be something here that gets your goat. When it does, buy a bundle of tibs, donate one to my charity of choice, Stay Close to Neve, and get it off your chest with a retort – better out than in. Have fun, be good and keep at ‘em.

clunk-click

Carl - January 13, 2011

Buckle-up as 2011 is going to be one rocky ride. Undoubtedly, this is the year when all our excesses are coming home to roost and we better take as many safety precautions as possible. The recent VAT hike has taken up most of the political commentary of late but let’s not forget that the impending big squeeze in public service provision and public service jobs which is about to start and with continued rises in the cost-of-living (equating to an estimated £400 per household) we all going to feel the pinch. Or are we? So far, the general public at large seems to be broadly going along with Dave’s ‘Big Society’ but it won’t be long before people realise how […]

fight, fight

Carl - January 5, 2011

I’ve mentioned before (September’s ‘sorry, I beg your pardon?’) my concerns that we’re too distracted by today’s digital proliferation and by our propensity to take it all in. My worry is that we’re being bombarded by data and information, all targeted and all highly relevant to our needs and lifestyles. Apparently, we’d be nothing without it and we ignore it at our peril. But hey guess what, as with unruly teenagers and unaffordable property, it’s with us forever. In the first century, Seneca, Emperor Nero’s philosopher and adviser, complained of ‘the abundance of books being a distraction’ and worried over the quality of literature available to the Roman populace. Mind, I suspect it was more than this that led to […]

drink and be damned

Carl - January 3, 2011

Whilst I’ll never be a fan, I do have to admit that Boris Johnson has got it right again (the first time being with his surprisingly perceptive, although ill-timed, pronouncement about scousers encouraging a victim culture). “Giving up alcohol is cruel.” Boris declared. “one of the cruellest and most deceitful things you can do to your body. I’ve taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has ever taken out of me. It’s a gift of the gods.” My own concise belief is a life without ale is a life not worth living. I mull over this wisdom as I enter the early stages of cold-turkey, only two days into this year’s resolution of cutting back on the ol’ demon drink. […]

2011 predictions

Carl - January 3, 2011

1. There will be a proper financial collapse. Many banks are truly insolvent and have yet to accept their predicament. 2. More EU bailouts will take place and the Euro will collapse in at least one country. Spain, Portugal, Greece or Ireland obviously appear the most likely candidates. 3. Property prices fall but unemployment levels, inflation and interest rates rise. 4. Sarah Palin will announce her candidature for the 2012 US election. 5. No-one will threaten Clegg’s leadership of the liberals and the coalition will remain in power. 6. The NHS will be pronounced DOA. 7. Michael Gove will announce a policy initiative that he doesn’t have to perform a U-turn from in the days that follow. 8. A presumed […]

be careful what you wish for

Carl - December 30, 2010

Regular readers will have noted that I’ve mentioned the current ‘Celtic Tiger’ situation on a number of occasions and it still concerns me greatly. It worries me that it would be way too easy for many countries, once the present economic scenario sorts itself out, to follow the same path to supposed prosperity. From 1998 to 2006 speculators spent, and made millions, building new property developments around every country town. Some 700,000 were built, equating to a new house for one in six of its population. Now, these houses are hard to avoid, ghost houses haunting the entrance to virtually every Irish village and town, patiently waiting for the families that will never come. The Irish became convinced that they […]

i'm lovin' it

Carl - December 29, 2010

Shock. Horror. Morbidly obese Americans are seeking to blame someone else, anyone else, for their predicament. Referred to as the McVictim syndrome everyone seems to be working overtime to find scapegoats for the nation’s obesity epidemic. Maybe if they worked as hard on refusing the food in the first place they wouldn’t be in the situation they now find themselves, and rest assured we ain’t that far behind them in the blame-culture stakes. Of late, the fault has been laid at the doors of several bogus factors including urban sprawl and air pollution. One high profile health official openly cites the addictive qualities of modern foods for his inability to pass the cookie jar without stopping to tuck-in. Give me […]

pretentious, moi?

Carl - December 27, 2010

No. But oh so very judgemental. When we are what we wear, drive, phone, eat, and where we party, dine, holiday and shop, and it all apparently says everything there is to know about us, it’s hard not to be. During Christie’s ‘vintage handbag’ auction earlier this month, nine Hermes Birkin handbags – apparently named after an actress, Jane Birkin – sold for more than £30,000 each, more than the price of an average three bedroom house in sunny Preston. So, despite the age-of-austerity handbag fever is alive and kicking. London stores report that that luxury items, personified by the season’s must-have handbag, are fairly flying out of the door and into a wardrobe near you. This has given rise […]

masters of the universe

Carl - December 27, 2010

Can any of you remember the highly enjoyable novel/TV play from the 1980’s starring Ray McAnally as fictional Sheffield Prime Minister, Harry Perkins, ‘A Very British Coup’? Well, it was an excellent piece of work developed by a group of actors, writers and production staff from the socially aware days of ‘Play For Today’ and it brought together a scenario comprising a left-wing Labour Government, the Tories, police & military, the IMF and the controlling financial institutions of the City. Sound familiar? Forget the left-wing connotation and it is surprisingly, nay worryingly, reminiscent of the financial and political dilemma we find ourselves in today, conspiracy theorists and all. The one subtle difference is that unlike the portrayed quasi-communist government bringing […]

pick up the phone and vote

Carl - December 19, 2010

What are we all going to do on Saturday nights now that X-Factor and Strictly have run their dubious course? The nation’s collective shock and swift regression into a depressive stupor is almost palpable. Even though the long, dramatic build-up to the crescendo crowning of these ‘stars’ started sometime during the end of the last war the removal of the extravaganza appears to hit many as powerfully as a close bereavement. Whilst I concede the water cooler will never be the same, does it leave you contemplating whether or not it’s just a bit of harmless fun or is it turning us into a nation of celebrity wannabes? The good news is that studies suggest this isn’t the case and that […]

they’ve previous

Carl - December 18, 2010

Americans wouldn’t be stupid enough to vote Sarah Palin into the white house would they? Of course not. That’d be like electing a second rate B-movie actor into the world’s most important position, or a semi-literate ex-drunk megalomaniac who still answered to his father, twice. Uh oh. Even taking into account the above examples there’s never been a politician quite like this hockey-mom and when Palin says she believes she can beat Obama in 2012, it’s not an idle boast. Normal rules don’t appear to apply to the former governor of Alaska. Her endless gaffes (“We gotta stand with our North Korean allies” is only the latest in a long litany), constant self-promotion, on-going family scandals, active involvement with the […]